I had shot Bench Rest in the 70’s and won a few matches and lost many, but learned one thing shooting BR. That most important thing has followed me the rest of my life. You do not compete against others only yourself. The first rule to me was try and make no mistakes. You make no mistakes and you will win at what ever you set out to do.
I had quit shooting for several years and bass fished and applied the same rules to bass fishing. Sharp hooks, new line, only fish productive water and you could and would catch big bass. The wife I had then and I decided we would be much happier without each other and I started a new life without her and broke.
I called an old friend whom I had shot BR with and told him I wanted to start shooting again but didn’t want to shoot in completion but for fun. He advised me to buy a contender and start having fun. I kind of turned my nose up at the idea of a break open pistol and told him I would rather get an XP-100 and see what kind of accuracy I could get from it. He made me a deal. Buy a new contender in 7tcu and if I wasn’t happy with it he would give me what I paid for it on a new XP. Oh yes, he had a dealer’s licensee and gave me wholesale prices. I said “OK” but didn’t have any reloading equipment. He ordered the contender and a TC 2x7 pistol scope and Lee hand press, Lee dies and Lee scale. I was set up and really didn’t have any idea how well he set me up.
Now it gets interesting (remember my first statement). The hand press worked OK and I found out the contender would really shoot well. I was getting 3 in one hole and one out a little and one out lots. The groups told me I was doing something wrong for it was capable of shooting one-hole groups and I wasn’t doing my part some way. No mistakes remember. I was looking at a scope catalog and saw some Burris pistol scopes that had a PA adjustment. Headed to the range. Set the contender up on sand bags and moved my head around and WOW all sorts of movement of the cross hairs all sorts of Parallax. I ordered a 2x7 Burris with PA and a Wichita BR rest. Put the two together next time I went shooting the contender and got my first one-hole group with a contender. Hooked and netted like a 10 lb bass in the live well.
I was really hooked and ordered some Wilson dies for the 7tcu for I remembered from my BR days that expander balls were the work of the devil. I had sold my soul for I was only happy with one-hole groups from my 7tcu. I didn’t have a computer and knew no one else shooting contenders and was on my own with my learning curve. I didn’t even know about custom barrels and thought only TC made barrels for the contender.
My requirements for a really accurate contender follow.
Top quality reloading tools and learn to use them well.
I have gotten many extra tools for my reloading bench and don’t use the hand press anymore and take extreme care in loading what I shoot and it has paid off for in shooting groups with a contender.
Remember that the first of this article I started “I am no better shooter than most of you reading this” but do take extra pains to make sure I eliminate loading mistakes and try to eliminate shooting mistakes from the bench. The way you hold and where you place the forearm is a personal thing for each of us. I’m using a hanger bar system on my forearms now and don’t think it makes any difference to me as long as I place the forearm the same place each time. I place a piece of masking tape on the forearm where it touches the sand bag and make sure it’s the same place each time I shoot. I have a very firm back sandbag under the grip and take extreme care to hold the grip the same each time I shoot.
A contender pistol or carbine that will shoot half inch groups and under will not kill more game than one that shoots inch or inch and half setup. I get satisfaction knowing I have done the best I know how and knowing when I go to the field or someone else using my equipment has the best accuracy I can get from that setup.
End of Chapter 1.